Common or European Blackbird

Max O'Sullivan wrote:
> They certainly seem to only settle in towns and I
> have never seen them in anything but gardens over the years. So they
> don't seem to displacing any native species. Any comments?
Down here in the Deep South (Victoria and Tasmania), Blackbirds
certainly do occur commonly in native vegetation. It always surprises
me to see them scooting across lawns in Mallee towns in Victoria, but
that's a common enough scene through a lot of Victoria now from the
humid coastal areas through to the semi-arid inland. They are found in
most forest areas in southern Victoria to some extent, and I've seen
them in far south-west Tasmania. More recently I've recorded them in
granite rise shrubland surrounded by Callitris in Terrick Terrick
National Park on Victoria's Northern Plains - a relatively dry landscape
(and during drought). They're still conquering new ground even down
here.
As to whether they compete with native species - not sure. Bassian
Thrushes used to occur in Geelong suburbs back in the early 1900s. The
fact that they disappeared may have been due to other factors than
competing Blackbirds and Song Thrushes??????? I'm not aware of any data
on the impact of Blackbirds on species like the Bassian Thrush. Do such
data exist?
L.
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